Frank Lovejoy

Frank Andrew Lovejoy Jr. (March 28, 1912 – October 2, 1962) was an American actor in radio, film, and television. He is perhaps best remembered for appearing in the film noir The Hitch-Hiker and for starring in the radio drama Night Beat.

Frank Lovejoy
Frank Lovejoy in 1960
Born	March 28, 1912 Bronx, New York, U.S.
Died	October 2, 1962 (aged 50) New York City, New York, U.S.
Resting place	Holy Cross Cemetery, Culver City
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1948–1962
Spouse(s)	Frances Williams ​ ​ (m. 1939; div. 1940)​ Joan Banks ​ ​ (m. 1940; died 1962)​
Children	2

Early life

He was born in the Bronx, New York, but grew up in New Jersey. His father, Frank Andrew Lovejoy, Sr., was a furniture salesman from Maine. His mother, Nora, was born in Massachusetts, to Irish immigrant parents.[1]

Radio

A successful radio actor, Lovejoy played Broadway Harry on the Gay Nineties Revue[2] and was heard on the 1930s crime drama series Gang Busters. Lovejoy was a narrator (during the first season) for the show This Is Your FBI.

In radio soap operas, Lovejoy played Dr. Christopher Ellerbe in Valiant Lady,[3] Sam Foster in This Day Is Ours,[4] and he had the roles of Brad Forbes on Brave Tomorrow and Larry Halliday in Bright Horizon.[5] He also played the title character on the syndicated The Blue Beetle in 1940, several episodes of The Whistler, and starred in the later newspaper drama series Night Beat in the early 1950s and in episodes of Suspense in the late 1950s. He also starred as John Malone in The Amazing Mr. Malone. He appeared as boxer Rory Malone in the 03/20/1949 episode of "Pat Novak for Hire" entitled "Rory Malone".

Films

Lovejoy in 1958

In films of the 1940s and 1950s, Lovejoy mostly played supporting roles. Appearing in movies such as Goodbye, My Fancy (1951) with Joan Crawford, and The Hitch-Hiker (1953) directed by Ida Lupino, Lovejoy was effective playing the movie's everyman in extraordinary situations. He was in several war movies, notably Stanley Kramer's Home of the Brave (1949), Breakthrough (1950), Joseph H. Lewis's Retreat, Hell! (1952) which portrayed the United States Marine Corps' withdrawal from the Chosin Reservoir (Changjin Reservoir) during the Korean War and as a Marine sergeant again in Beachhead (1954), and Strategic Air Command (1955) with James Stewart. In 1950, he had the lead role in “Try and Get Me[6]”, (aka “Sound of Fury”) as a struggling out of work man who fell to crime to support his family; in a film noire combining crime and murder with social injustice, an irresponsible newspaper and equally criminal public mob reactions. In 1951, he had the title role in I Was a Communist for the FBI with co-stars Ron Hagerthy, Paul Picerni, and Philip Carey.

Television

Lovejoy starred in two short-run TV series, Man Against Crime and Meet McGraw. Episodes of these two series have never been released commercially on DVD or VHS and never aired as reruns. Meet McGraw episodes were screened at the Mid-Atlantic Nostalgia Convention.

Lovejoy's final television performances include the episode "County General" (March 18, 1962) on the ABC series Bus Stop with Marilyn Maxwell in the role of Grace Sherwood. That same season, he appeared on the ABC crime drama Target: The Corruptors! about the efforts of a New York City reporter to expose organized crime.

Personal life

Lovejoy was first married to Frances Williams, but divorced in the late 1930s. In 1940, Lovejoy married actress Joan Banks, with whom he had a son and a daughter.

On October 2, 1962, Frank Lovejoy died of a heart attack in his sleep at his residence in New York City. His wife, Joan Banks, called for medical help after she was unable to wake him. The couple had been appearing in a New Jersey production of the Gore Vidal play The Best Man.

Filmography

Film
Year	Title	Role	Notes
1948	Black Bart	Mark Lorimer
1949	Home of the Brave	Sergeant Mingo
1950	In a Lonely Place	Detective Sergeant Brub Nicolai
	South Sea Sinner	Doc
	Three Secrets	Bob Duffy
	Breakthrough	Sgt. Pete Bell
	Try and Get Me!	Howard Tyler	aka The Sound of Fury
1951	I Was a Communist for the FBI	Matt Cvetic
	Goodbye, My Fancy	Matt Cole
	Force of Arms	Major Blackford
	I'll See You in My Dreams	Walter Donaldson
	Starlift	Himself
1952	Retreat, Hell!	Lieutenant Colonel Steve L. Corbett
	The Winning Team	Rogers Hornsby
1953	She's Back on Broadway	John Webber
	The Hitch-Hiker	Gilbert Bowen
	House of Wax	Lieutenant Thomas "Tom" Brennan
	The System	John E. 'Johnny' Merrick
	The Charge at Feather River	Sergeant Charlie Baker
1954	Beachhead	Sgt. Fletcher
	Men of the Fighting Lady	Lieutenant Commander Paul Grayson
1955	The Americano	Bento Hermany
	Strategic Air Command	General Ennis C. Hawkes
	Top of the World	Maj. Brad Cantrell
	Mad at the World	Police Capt. Tom Lynn
	Finger Man	Casey Martin
	Shack Out on 101	Professor Bastion
	The Crooked Web	Stanley Fabian
1956	Julie	Detective Lieutenant Pringle
1958	Cole Younger, Gunfighter	Cole Younger
Television
Year	Title	Role	Notes
1957–1958	Meet McGraw	McGraw
1957	Cavalcade of America	Inspector Ed McCook	Ep. 'Chicago 2-1-2'[7]
Radio
Year	Title	Role	Notes
1948	The Blue Beetle
1948	Box 13	Various support roles	-
1950	Escape		Episode: "Danger at Matecumbe"[8]
1950–1952	Night Beat	Randy Stone
1952	Gang Busters
1952	Hollywood Sound Stage		Episode: "One Way Passage"[9]
1952	Suspense	Joe Broady	Episode: "The Wreck of the Old 97"[10]
1952	Suspense	Billy the Kid	Episode: "The Shooting of Billy the Kid"[11]
1954	Suspense	Mr. Kedman	Episode: "The Man from Tomorrow"[12]

References

1. US Census 1920, Woodridge, Bergen Co., New Jersey, enumerator's district 125, sheet 18A
2. "Saturday's Highlights" (PDF). Radio and Television Mirror. 13 (4): 52. February 1940. Retrieved 22 February 2015.
3. Buxton, Frank and Owen, Bill (1972). The Big Broadcast: 1920–1950. The Viking Press. ISBN 978-0810829572. p. 249.
4. Senseney, Dan (September 1940). "What's New from Coast to Coast" (PDF). Radio and Television Mirror. 14 (5): 36–37, 72. Retrieved 8 March 2015.
5. Dunning, John (1998). On the Air: The Encyclopedia of Old-Time Radio. Oxford University Press. pp. 111, 119. ISBN 978-0-19-507678-3.
6. "The Sound of Fury (film) - Wikipedia". en.m.wikipedia.org. Retrieved 2020-01-26.
7. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0537681/
8. "Radio's Golden Age". Nostalgia Digest. 40 (1): 40–41. Winter 2014.
9. Kirby, Walter (February 10, 1952). "Better Radio Programs for the Week". The Decatur Daily Review. p. 38. Retrieved June 2, 2015 – via Newspapers.com.
10. Kirby, Walter (March 16, 1952). "Better Radio Programs for the Week". The Decatur Daily Review. p. 44. Retrieved May 23, 2015 – via Newspapers.com.
11. Kirby, Walter (April 27, 1952). "Better Radio Programs for the Week". The Decatur Daily Review. p. 48. Retrieved May 9, 2015 – via Newspapers.com.
12. "Suspense 1957 - Single Episodes" (MP3). Retrieved March 4, 2018 – via archive.org.

External links

• Official website
• Frank Lovejoy at IMDb
• Frank Lovejoy at AllMovie
• Frank Lovejoy at the Internet Broadway Database
• Frank Lovejoy at Find a Grave